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Peace Walk Condemns Toxic Intervention - MR by STICS

Media Release: Liv Nigro, STICS - 8 January 2009

 

Peace Walk Condemns Toxic Intervention

 

Walking to a nuclear-free sovereign beat,

17-day walk demands an end to NT Intervention

Tomorrow, 6am, Sydney:
Tomorrow a delegation of community members and activists will begin a 17 day peace walk from Sydney to the steps of Parliament House in Canberra calling for recognition of Indigenous Sovereignty, an end to the NT Intervention and an end to Australia's involvement in the dangerous nuclear-fuel cycle. An Aboriginal Tent Embassy has been set up in Victoria Park, Sydney to launch the walk. Itinerary attached.

"Aboriginal Australia has been battling for over 200 years. The NT Intervention is the most recent attack on our human rights, our collective rights as Indigenous peoples and our sovereign rights as the true custodians of these lands. If you want to Close The Gap Rudd, begin at the beginning - recognize Aboriginal sovereignty" said Darren Bloomfield from the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Sydney.

"The Federal Government has been hacking away at Aboriginal Land Rights with the NT Intervention and now compulsory leases if Aboriginal communities want to receive basic services. The land grab has to stop", continued Bloomfield.

As land rights are being systematically dismantled, the Federal Government positions Australia to be the largest miner and exporter of uranium in the world. The threat of an unwanted centralized remote nuclear waste dump still looms over Aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory. Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities Australia-wide stand strong together against all stages of the toxic nuclear industry and the destruction of sovereign lands.

"To me the walk is part of creating unity between communities. We have to share the responsibility of looking after the earth", said Winiata Peru, a walker from Canberra.

"Sovereign Aboriginal people have a right to self determination, to be empowered to make decisions affecting their country and communities. Rudd is continuing Howard's paternalism. We demand the UN Declaration on Rights for Indigenous Peoples be adopted and implemented as a binding blueprint for Indigenous policy development", said Uncle Dootch Kennedy, from the Sandon Point Aboriginal Tent Embassy on whose land the Lucas Heights Nuclear Reactor stands.

The walk will begin today at Kurnell, Botany Bay, the first site of white settlement and will arrive at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy Canberra for Sovereignty Day, 26th January. Supporters will then join thousands of others on the opening day of Parliament, 3rd February, in a mass national convergence calling for an end to the NT Intervention and for Aboriginal control of Aboriginal affairs Australia-wide.

Media Contacts:
Darren Bloomfield: 0412 826 043
Inge Arnold: 0418 345 686

 

Peace Walk Itinerary
Please join us at any stage of our walk. Our itinerary is:

Full Route:

(Jan 8, afternoon: Meet at Kurnell)

Jan 9 Kurnell to Heathcote

Jan 10 Heathcote to Liverpool

Jan 11 Liverpool to Campbelltown

Jan 12 Campbelltown to Picton

Jan 13 Picton to Bargo

Jan 14 Bargo to Alpine

Jan 15 REST DAY in Alpine

Jan 16 Alpine to Moss Vale

Jan 17 Moss Vale to Penrose

Jan 18 Penrose to Marulan

Jan 19 Marulan to Goulburn

Jan 20 REST DAY in Goulburn

Jan 21 Goulburn to Inveralochy/Lake Bathurst

Jan 22 Inveralochy to Mount Fairy

Jan 23 Mount Fairy to Bungendore

Jan 24 Bungendore to Sutton

Jan 25 Sutton to North Canberra

Jan 26 Canberra (Civic) to the Tent Embassy (meet at Garema Place at 9:30am)